Parliamentary Interaction and Gendered Communication

Maiken Røed

University of Oslo

Martin Søyland
martin.soyland@stv.uio.no

University of Oslo

Hanna Bäck

Lund University

At a glance


Context: Written parliamentary questions
Gap: Gender and sender-receiver dynamics in parliament
RQ: Is languagage more similar among senders and receivers of the same gender?
Overall finding : Senders: Yes!; Receivers: Yes, but only among female MPs
Immidiate finding: Man to woman: more male language
Woman to man: more female language (but only among male MPs)

Gender effects in parliament

Gender and interaction

  • Role congruity theory
    • Ingrained views on how men and women are supposed to behave
    • Deviating: possible negative consequences
  • Social identity theory
    • People of same gender: ingroup
    • Uphold gender identity
    • Breaking group norms: possible negative consequences
  • Context:
    • Written Parliamentary Questions (WPQs)
    • Designated receiver
    • No social face-to-face interaction

Hypotheses

Hypothesis 1: WPQ language is more likely to be similar to questions by other MPs of the same gender

Hypothesis 2: Language is even more aligned with one’s own gender if the receiving minister is also of the same gender

Methods

  • Data
    • All WPQs from 1998-2021
      • (We will expand to 2025 after the election)
    • N = \(29,701\)
  • Measurement
  • Estimation
    • Overall trends: Fractional logit with gender measure as DV
    • Immediate effect: RD on minister post change
      • Woman → Man
      • Man → Woman

Analyses

Overall

Immediate

Minister change from man to woman

Immediate

Minister change from woman to man

Summary

  1. WPQs are (also) gendered by sender
    • Women use more similar languge to other women
    • Vice versa for men
  2. WPQs are gendered by receiver
    • Overall:
      • Women MPs use more feminine language when receiving minister is a woman
      • No effect for men
    • Immediate:
      • Minister man → woman: Women/men MPs more masculine language
      • Minister woman → man: Men MPs more feminine language

References

Acker, Joan. 1990. “Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations.” Gender and Society 4 (2): 139–58.
Castanho Silva, Bruno, Danielle Pullan, and Jens Wäckerle. 2025. “Blending in or Standing Out? Gendered Political Communication in 24 Democracies.” American Journal of Political Science 69 (2): 653–68.
Erikson, Josefina, and Cecilia Josefsson. 2019. “The Legislature as a Gendered Workplace: Exploring Members of Parliament’s Experiences of Working in the Swedish Parliament.” International Political Science Review 40 (2): 197–214.
Wäckerle, Jens, and Bruno Castanho Silva. 2023. “Distinctive Voices: Political Speech, Rhetoric, and the Substantive Representation of Women in European Parliaments.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 48 (4): 797–831.